


Working Through Some Stuff

by keelywolfe



Series: by any other name [25]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, References to Depression, Spicyhoney - Freeform, Therapy, Underfell Papyrus (Undertale), Underswap Papyrus (Undertale), Undertale Monsters on the Surface, papcest - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 03:45:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16421804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keelywolfe/pseuds/keelywolfe
Summary: The point of therapy is talking to a neutral third party. Edge knows this, but that doesn't make it easy.





	Working Through Some Stuff

* * *

Stretch never talked about his therapy sessions. He still went twice a week and Edge still took him, sitting out in the waiting room with his laptop. There was a fraction of a temptation to listen at the door, to try to glean even the tiniest knowledge of things he was confessing to a near stranger that he could never say to Edge, but it was easily dismissed. 

The entire point of therapy was that it gave Stretch an opportunity to speak with a neutral party. So that he could unburden himself without feeling as if he was passing that burden Edge. Perhaps someday he’d be comfortable enough to tell Edge everything, they had a lifetime together for it, and if that day never came, it didn’t matter. He would love Stretch either way. 

Every time his hour was up and he left the office, it was the luck of the draw how it went. Stretch had a veritable kaleidoscope of emotions to choose from; tears, cold anger, sullen silence. The only mood he never seemed to walk out that door with was happiness, and Edge was starting to wonder silently if this was a mistake. It had been weeks; surely, he should be getting some benefits by now? But Stretch hadn’t asked him again to stop this, and Edge wouldn’t offer. Patience was supposed to be a trait that he brought to this relationship because stars knew that Stretch possessed none. Now in particular was the time to exercise it. 

Today Stretch had been quiet when he’d come out, his expression more thoughtful than upset for once. His silence had persisted in the car on the drive home and Edge hadn’t pressed him. Giving him time to assimilate whatever it was he’d dredged up in that office. 

It was only after they’d gone inside that Stretch had spoken, softer than his normal exuberance, "could you light a fire?"

"Of course." Edge took off his coat and hung it up before crouching in front of the fireplace. Briefly, he wondered if Stretch had a bad patch coming on, his quiet was more inline with a depressive episode. 

But while he was intent on getting flames blazing, Stretch was gathering blankets. Edge sat back on his heels and watched as Stretch made a little nest in front of the hearth, comfortably messy. Satisfied, he stepped back and pulled his sweatshirt over his head, his tank top tangled with it. His track pants didn't take much more than a flick of his wrist to send them to his ankles and, bare, he gave Edge a sultry look. 

"you coming?" Still soft, but husky, and his joints were already glowing with increased magic. 

"Hopefully in more ways than one,” Edge growled, and then caught him by the wrist to pull him down into the blankets amidst sweet laughter. 

Beautiful, always so beautiful, his smooth bones were slimmer than Edge’s own, tinted golden in the flickering warmth of light. Edge had a fine appreciation for lovemaking in front of a roaring fire. He didn't need to worry about Stretch getting chilled, his low HP sometimes made it difficult for him to stay warm, and here with the heat of the fire cascading over them, sweat was rising, slicking the path of his gloves as they rasped over bare bone. 

Edge was not inherently cruel, but there were some temptations that were too much to resist. Stretch was beautiful when he begged, the way his voice dropped into a throaty plea and his expressions, lost and desperate, the way tears threatened as Edge took him to the brink again and again.

Afterward, they lay together beneath one of the soft blankets, Edge drowsing as he trailed his fingers over Stretch’s spine. They were both still tacky with sweat, the magic slowly dissolving, and they'd need to clean up before going to bed. Or rather, Edge would likely do it before carrying Stretch up to their room. That was fine; after the pleasure of listening to him plead, he'd earned the right to be carried.

“does it bother you that i’ve had sex with a lot of other people?”

His fingers stilled. Well, it seemed like they were discussing this now. A loaded question and landmines scattered in every direction. No answer he gave was going to satisfy so he went with the truth.

“I’m not sure why it would,” Edge said, quiet conviction in every word. “You aren’t your body, and even if you were, it wouldn’t matter to me.” He shifted up on his elbow to look down at Stretch, who was pointedly looking away. With two gentle fingers beneath his chin, Edge nudged his head up, urging him to meet his eye lights, and when he did, Edge told him, “It matters now because we have promises between us but before that, it isn’t important.”

“it is important,” Stretch said, but his voice was too small, too quiet. Begging to be persuaded. 

“Not to me,” Edge said firmly. If he could have stepped into Stretch’s memories to see who had convinced him it was, what they might have said or done to make Stretch ashamed of who he was, Edge had no doubt that he would have, and he would have dealt with whoever it was in a way better suited to Underfell’s concept of justice. 

Perhaps it was better that Stretch was discussing these issues with a third party.

“Rus—” he began only to blink in surprise when Stretch interrupted him. 

“i like it when you call me rus. sometimes.” He said it like a confession, like the words had been torn loose.

“Do you?” Edge asked softly. He didn’t really think about it, pet names came to him easily with Stretch; love, sweetheart, even the occasional precious. Rus was only another in the list, said absently but with great affection.

“it’s just…i’m okay being stretch. mostly,” Stretch twisted away from his fingers and buried his face into Edge’s ribcage. “i’m not the same person i was in underswap and i’m okay with that. but sometimes i like to remember that papyrus from underswap wasn’t a bad person, he was just going through a bad time.”

“Rus,” Edge said deliberately. He shifted to rest his chin on the top of Stretch’s skull. “I don’t think you have it in you to be a bad person. Listen to me now, I’ve known bad people and you are not one of them. You, my heart, are a kind, generous soul, to Monsters and Humans, and even chickens. There is nothing close to bad within you, all right? Do you believe me?”

A long moment of hesitation and then Stretch nodded, his skull scraping against Edge’s chin. The fire was burning down, still casting its glowing warmth over them and Edge tugged the blankets a little tighter around them, holding Stretch close as he watched the embers smolder. Only slighter warmer than the burning in his soul, the LV that normally didn’t trouble him flaring to life. 

Yes, it was better that Stretch discussed this with his therapist; better too that whoever it was that needed killing wasn’t in this universe. Because Stretch wasn’t a bad person, but that wasn’t something Edge could say about himself.

Stretch might believe he didn’t deserve this, but Edge knew better, knew which one of them didn’t deserve this happiness, and his own selfishness eclipsed his husband’s in leaps and bounds, because he had no intention of ever giving this up. 

He closed his sockets and took a deep, slow breath before pressing a soft kiss against Stretch’s skull. He made a sleepy sound, snuggling in closer, and Edge simply held him. Their upstairs bedroom was much too far away and anyway, he had everything he needed right here. 

 

-finis-


End file.
